Twitter has permanently suspended the account that tracked the location of Elon Musk’s private jet, raising questions about the billionaire’s pledge to allow free speech on the social media platform.
Musk, who is a self-described “free speech absolutist,” said last month that he would allow the account which had 530,000 followers.
“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” he tweeted.
Twitter also later suspended the personal account of Florida college student Jack Sweeney who ran the jet-tracking account and accounts that tracked the jet flights of Mark Zuckerberg, John Kerry and Donald Trump.
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In response, Sweeney created a Mastodon account to track Musk’s jet. He uses public air traffic data to track the jet’s flights and regularly provides updates on the location of the jet.
“All of my Twitter accounts have been banned,” Sweeney wrote on Mastodon.
A screenshot he posted showed that Twitter suspended him for violating its rules against “platform manipulation and spam.”
Story Credit: usatoday.com